R&A ... the 152nd Open at Royal Troon Leaderboard Tee Times
Daniel Brown carded a brilliant bogey-free -6 65 in his first round at a Major Championship to lead by one after day one of The Open.
The Englishman had not played a weekend on the DP World Tour since March before making the cut at last week's Genesis Scottish Open but found his form in spectacular style at Royal Troon.
His -6 effort saw him lead the way from 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry -5 66, with two-time Major winner Justin Thomas at -3 68
English duo Joe Dean and Justin Rose, American pair Russell Henley and Xander Schauffele, Dane Nicolai Højgaard, Swede Alex Noren and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes were at -2 69
Brown earned his Major debut with a 20-footer on the last at Final Qualifying, with the 36-hole contest at West Lancashire coming in the middle of a torrid run of results on Tour as he recovered from a knee injury.
He had two top tens on the 2024 Race to Dubai before he sat out nearly two months with injury. Upon his return in May, he recorded six missed cuts and a retirement before last week's 61st-placed finish at The Renaissance Club and has continued his Scottish surge in remarkable fashion with brother Ben as his caddie.
I was playing well leading up to the tournament," he said. "Scores haven't really reflected it recently but I felt comfortable and probably a bit more calm than you normally would be with it being your first Major.
Lowry hit an excellent approach to around ten feet at the par-five fourth after laying up and put a pitch to similar range on the short par-four seventh before a brilliant tee-shot handed him a share of the lead at the Postage Stamp.
The Irishman led on his own as he holed a 20-footer on the 11th and a stunning second to five feet at the last moved him to five under.
American Thomas was the man to set the early target, carding birdies on the second, fourth, seventh and eighth with a bogey on the fifth to turn in 33.
Rose put approaches inside ten feet at the third and seventh for a pair of birdies in a bogey-free round, while Noren and Højgaard both carded four birdies and two bogeys.
Dean was one over at the turn but picked up three shots on the back nine, with Schauffele getting to -3 through 11 before surrendering his only bogey of the day on the 14th.
Henley also made a single bogey in his 69, while Hughes made five birdies but gave up three bogeys.
World Number One Scottie Scheffler, fellow Americans Chris Kirk and Brooks Koepka, English pair Matt Fitzpatrick and Matt Wallace, Austria's Sepp Straka and Australian Adam Scott were the only other players under par -1 70.
Scheffler has
edit ***** Canadians.... Mac Hughes T4 -2 69, Corey Conners T18 E 71, Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin T82 +4 75
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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